Ventilated auxiliary seat for chairs



No. 6|2,620. Patented Oct. l8, I898.

D. H. VAN 'DEVANTEB.

VENTILATED AUXILIARY SEAT FDR CHAIRS.

(Application filed Sept. 80, 1 897.) (No Model.)

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ATENT rion.

VENTILATED AUXILIARY SEAT FOR CHAIRS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 612,629; dated October 18, 1898. Application filed September 30,1897. Serial No- 653,6I8. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DECATUR H. VAN DE- VANTER, a citizen of the United States; residing at IVaterford, in the county of Loudoun and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ventilated Auxiliary Seats for Chairs; 'and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new and ,useful improvements in attachments for car and other seats.

It has for its object to provide an attachment which will give comfortable support and at the same time secure ventilation around the body of a person occupying the seat; and with this end in View my invention consists of an open or ventilated mat adapted to lie against the back and upon the ordinary seat of a car or other chair and provided with means for readily securing the attachment in position or releasing it from the chair or other seat.

My invention does not contemplate any change in the construction of the seats to which it is applicable, but on the contrary is adapted for use upon the ordinary seats,which may be of any desired construction or material.

In order that those skilled in the art may know how to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe the construction and manner of using the same, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of an ordinary car-chair with my improved ventilated back and seat located thereon and secured in position by bent rods or wires constituting selvages at each edge. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the ventilated back and seat removed from the chair. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing the ventilated back and seat secured in position on the chair by means of straps or cords; and Fig. 4: is a plan view of the ventilated back and seat removed from the chair.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

A represents an ordinary chair-such, for instance as is found in the usual Pullman car.

place between the chair and the occupant of the same.

O are wire rods bent in form to correspond with the contour of the back and seat of the chair and constitute selvages or edges of the ventilated mat 13.. These rods may be threaded through the outer coil or edge of the mat or secured thereto in any other suitable manner, and the upper and lower ends fashioned into hooks adapted to embrace the upper part of the back and the front edge of the seat, as clearly shown at Fig. 1. a

When removed from the chair, the mat and rods may be nested and placed in any convenient place in the car, or the rods may be removed and the mats and rods packed away separately.

In lieu of the rods 0 for holding the mat in position upon the chair the mat may be made with a suitable selvage edge and provided at suitable localities with straps D (see Fig. 3) or other equivalent means for securing the mat in position. l

I do not wish to be confined to the exact means shownfor securing the mat in position upon the chair solong as the said mat is held in close contact with the outline of the seat and back and the general contour of the chair is preserved and the securing devices are readily removable in order that the mat may be folded or otherwise disposed when removed from the chair and so as to economize space.

I am aware that chairs have been made which are adapted to be converted from upholstered or winter chairs to ventilated or summer chairs; but all such constructions involve the substitution of parts, while by the use of my invention no change of the original construction of the chair is necessary to convert it from awinter to a summer chair.

I am also aware that it hasbeen proposed to provide a chair or car seat with a sleeping attachment composed of seat and back portions pivotally connected to each other and covered with a suitable flexible fabric and provided also with mechanical means or devices for adjusting the inclination of the-back and the relative position of the seat With ref erence to the chair proper; but this construction necessarily involves great strength and rigidity of the frame and comparatively complex devices for operating the same, while in my invention, owing to the design and character of the mat, no considerable degree of strength or Weight is required of the fastening devices, as the mat is at all times when in use coincident with the contour-lines of the chair. \Vhen the wire rods 0 are employed, they need be only of such strength and size as to give shape to the mat, a very slight connection between the mat and the seat under such circumstances being necessary to retain the mat and chair in proper relation with each other.

While I have shown the mat as adapted to both the seat and back of the chair, it will.

be understood that it may be so proportioned as to be adapted for use either upon the seat or back.

I havefound from experience that woven wire in coils of about half an inch in crosssection, While constituting a comfortablyyielding mat, resist compression sufliciently tomaintain a free air-circulating space between the chair and the occupant, and I- prefer a mat so constructed; but any other similar resistant and flexible material may be used.

Having described the construction and advantages of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1S-- 1. As a new article of manufacture a ventilating auxiliary and removable body-support for chairs or other seats composed of woven wire or similar resistant and ventilating material, provided with means substantially as described for securing and releasing the same from the chair or other seat, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. j 2. An auxiliary back and seat for chairs icomposed of a mat of woven Wire having an interior ventilatingspace and provided at ;each of its side edges with continuous rigid fshaping rods removably secured to the'edges lof the mat and adapting the latter to the congtour of a. chair or other seat, substantially as ghereinbefore set forth. i In testimony whereof I affix my signature ;in presence of two witnesses.

DECATUR ll. VAN DEVANTER.

\Vitn esses: L. P. SMITH, l A. L. MCGAVACK. 

